1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an interactive television platform that includes several disparate user applications such as games, weather, banking and e-mail, and specifically to an apparatus and method for persistently storing subscriber information related to the interactive television applications remotely in a set-top box and in a single centrally located repository. This allows common user information used by multiple disparate applications to be shared among said applications to ease the burden of data entry of the user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Satellite and cable television provide an interactive television platform which may consist of a plethora of disparate user applications, such as games, shopping, weather, banking, and e-mail. Although these applications do not necessarily work together, they often require the same information to be inputted by a user in order to operate. For example, any application that uses a backchannel, such as a two-way dial-up to the satellite television interactive platform, requires a phone number to access the local point-of-presence (PoP). Conceivably, each application could provide a user interface (UI) that would allow the user to choose a PoP. However, as the number of user applications using the same backchannel increases, this not only becomes inefficient for a satellite television service provider (since multiple PoP lists would have to be maintained), but also aggravating for the user who must repeatedly enter the same information.
Additionally, a solution to this problem opens a gateway to future technologies for interactive television such as one-click shopping (in which previously entered credit card debit information and mailing addresses are used to order items for the subscriber with a single keypress, rather than requiring the user to repeatedly enter constant information).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,034 issued to Joseph, et al. describes an apparatus for transmitting and receiving executable applications for a multi-media system. The patent discloses a distributed computer system for interactive TV applications that allows a viewer to turn on an interactive TV channel at any time and allows all viewers to proceed at different paces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,648 issued to Menand, et al. shows a method for controlling execution of an audio/video interactive program that can be used with interactive television systems. The method employs receiving a packet stream that includes a directory and AVI program including an associate identifier in the directory.
Neither of these patents disclose a system that provides for user friendly information storage that allows a user with an interactive television to not have to enter the same common information over and over again when each different application program is accessed by the interactive television user.
It is, therefore, to the effective resolution of the aforementioned problems and shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention is directed.